Sister of U.S. ambassador recalls ‘good brother,’ good man

Originally published September 25, 2012 at 9:32 pm
Updated September 26, 2012 at 10:17 am

Young siblings Anne and Chris Stevens on Mt. Tamalpais, north of San Francisco, in 1965. “We all grew up hiking there,” Anne said. “Chris wanted to retire there.”

Seattle pediatrician Anne Stevens, sister of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, is shown Tuesday outside her home wearing an ankh necklace her brother gave her in 1997 when he lived in Egypt. To ancient Egyptians, the ankh was a symbol of life.

Seattle pediatrician Anne Stevens, sister of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, is shown Tuesday outside her home wearing an ankh necklace her brother gave her in 1997 when he lived in Egypt. To ancient Egyptians, the ankh was a symbol of life.

Anne Stevens and her brother Chris recline on Deer Creek beach in California, near their old family home.

Anne and Chris Stevens, next to their father Jan Steven, right, sing at their father’s wedding in 2009. “Dad always writes funny songs for every occasion, and we were trying to sing this one he wrote to his betrothed with no preparation whatsoever, to an old tune we did not know.”

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Two weeks after U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed during an attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, his sister Anne Stevens, a Seattle pediatrician, remembers her big brother.

The Stevens family has deep roots in Washington state. Through their mother, Mary Commanday, the Stevens siblings are the great-great-great-great grandchildren of Chief Comcomly of the Chinook Tribe, who gave assistance to the Lewis and Clark expedition when it arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1805.

After Chris Stevens, 52, was killed, tribal chief Ray Gardner wrote about the death in the tribal newspaper, telling other Chinook members: “This will be a hard time for their family and they will need our prayers.”

In Ilwaco, Pacific County, home to the tribal headquarters, the tribe held a prayer ceremony for Chris, then sent a single oar out into the water, to help him in the next phase of his journey.

Anne Stevens said her family often worried about Chris’ safety, but “he’s been in dangerous places for a long time,” she said.

Her brother started his international career in the Peace Corps in Morocco, and also served in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel and Egypt. During the Libyan revolution, as a U.S. diplomat, he was dispatched to Benghazi in April 2011 and worked with the Libyan opposition during the revolution..

His safety has been “a continuing worry, but that’s where he wanted to be,” she said. “Nobody ever tried to talk him out of it.”

Stevens said she hopes some goodwill can come out of her brother’s death. To that end, the family created a memorial to her brother online, rememberingchrisstevens.com, to promote communication and understanding between the Western and Arab worlds.

Both the Libyan government and philanthropist Gordon Getty have made large contributions to the fund.

“I want to keep hoping the progress will continue,” Stevens said. “We can’t run away and say it’s too scary and dangerous. We have to keep collaborating.”

A pediatrician who researches the causes of the autoimmune-disease lupus, Anne Stevens said her brother regularly sent long emails to family and friends from Libya, reporting on his progress.

He also sent personal messages — most recently, congratulating Anne on making Seattle Magazine’s list of top doctors in the area. Anne Stevens was recognized for her work in pediatric rheumatology.

When they were children, growing up in California’s Bay Area, Chris was her close protector.

The two were a year and a half apart in age, and Chris was the first one in the family to see Anne standing on her own two feet in her crib.

Family members have told her Chris went running through the house, shouting that Anne had learned to stand.

“He was a good brother,” Stevens said. “I was lucky to have such a brother.”